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The Prado's Giant Leap to a Shaky Conclusion

By

Barbara Rose

Updated Feb. 17, 2009 12:01 a.m. ET

Madrid

Ever since the Prado dropped the bombshell last April that Goya's famed painting of a giant, the "Colossus" (c. 1810-12), was not by the master but rather the work of his little-known assistant Asencio Julia, scholars have been in an uproar. To quell the general outrage following the demotion of the painting, the Prado promised a detailed study that would prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that Goya (1746-1828) did not paint the "Colossus," a painting so impressive and striking that Baudelaire referred...